


the prince and the snake

by disaster_queer



Series: Secrets and Swordfights [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders-centric, Gen, No beta we duck out like virgil, Secrets & Swordfights, cliffhanger ending but i promise it'll be explained in like 15 days
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:53:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29136612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disaster_queer/pseuds/disaster_queer
Summary: Roman reflects on his conversation with Janus
Relationships: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders
Series: Secrets and Swordfights [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1928962
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	the prince and the snake

**Author's Note:**

> guess who didn't actually abandon this series? anyway, about the last oneshot: roman never obtained a sword in order to duel mark, much to his disappointment

“And the role of Romeo goes to… Roman Prince,” the drama teacher said with a wince, knowing the actor in question’s tendency to overreact. Roman jumped up and pumped a fist in the air.

“Yes!” He shouted. He’d been working towards this role, his dream role, for so long, even going to the trouble of talking Janus into playing Juliet while he practiced for the auditions. Of course, that was before. 

“Sit down, Roman,” the teacher said with a long-suffering sigh. The bell sounded, signaling the end of the after-school auditions, and the end of the drama teacher’s misery. Roman rolled his eyes, and flopped back in his chair, waiting for the flood of students stampeding for the doors to subside. When the auditorium was sufficiently empty, he grabbed his backpack and rushed to catch the late bus. 

Roman put on his headphones and hit play on the Dear Evan Hansen soundtrack. He leaned against the window and watched the world go by in a blur. It seemed like no time at all when the playlist ended, but he still wasn’t at his stop. He pulled his phone back out and selected a random playlist, then stuffed it back in his red hoodie pocket. 

An unsettlingly familiar melody started up, and Roman, startled, hit pause as quickly as he could. He shook his head quickly.  _ No. No, I can’t listen to  _ this  _ right now. _

He knew without looking at it that it was the playlist Janus had made for him a few months ago.  _ It’s weird to think that something that only happened last night would have such an impact on my life.  _

Refusing to think about the series of texts that he’d exchanged with Janus last night, Roman scrolled through his library, eventually settling on an album Virgil had recommended to him, something he hadn’t listened to yet, dismissing it as just another one of the depressing songs his emo friend liked. 

Roman ended up listening to the first song that came on shuffle play on repeat for the remainder of the bus ride. The chorus was still playing in his head when he stepped off the bus.

_ ‘Cause you only live forever in the lights you make. When we were young, we used to say that you only hear the music when your heart begins to break. Now we are the kids from yesterday.  _

Maybe Virgil was onto something with My Chemical Romance. That was a horrifying thought. 

Roman forced himself to walk home with confidence in his stride, regardless of how uncertain he felt inside, he refused to worry his parents. Besides, he didn’t want to let Remus see how upset he was. 

He unlocked his front door, calling out a hasty “I’m home!” to his dad, before rushing upstairs to his room. He was making good progress on his plan to avoid all of his family for as long as he could when he was surprised by Remus popping out of his own room while Roman was trying speed-walk right past it. 

“Hi, Ro!” his brother grinned, leaning forward with his arms propped against his door frame. 

“Hello, Remus,” Roman sighed, hurrying into his own room before Remus could start a conversation. He locked the door behind him, and collapsed onto the fluffy armchair in the corner of his room covered with musical posters. He stared up at the Be More Chill poster, the one closest to him, and let his thoughts wander.

Approximately two seconds later, they wandered to Janus Sanders. 

Roman just couldn’t believe it. His closest friend and fellow actor was a liar? Had been manipulating him and his friends for who knows how long? (Not that Roman understood  _ why _ ) Had extensive identity issues, to say the least?

But why would Janus lie about that, if it wasn’t true? That led to a paradox. If he was lying, he would have been telling the truth. It made Roman’s head hurt to think about it. 

Roman jumped up from his seat and began to pace in front of his armchair. There were so many questions spinning around in his mind, so many answers he needed to figure out. He decided to start with the least painful one. Did anyone else know?

“So,” he mused aloud. “If Janus manipulated Logan and Virgil, and they fell for it, neither of them will know about this. Patton  _ despises _ lies, he’d never stand for what Janus has been doing. And Remus?” He pondered this for a minute, before ultimately deciding that Remus knew. “Remus would figure out that Janus was lying pretty quickly, if I’m being honest with myself.”

“Yep!” Remus jeered from outside his room, popping the p. “I knew full well that Jan-Jan was lying to you all!” 

“Thanks a lot for warning me about it, you jerk! And were you eavesdropping on my thinking out loud?” Roman yelled back. “What a loyal brother you are!” 

“Watch the sarcasm, Ro, you’re beginning to sound like our friend!” Roman had no response. What could he say, after all? Was Janus even his friend anymore? 

“Oh, come on, I didn’t mean it that way!” Remus shouted, sensing the beginnings of Roman’s crisis. 

“You could have at least helped!” Roman responded. 

“I did help!” Remus defended. “I helped Janus keep his secrets from you!” 

“Not what I meant!” Roman flopped back onto his chair. The best course of action, he decided, was to avoid Janus for as long as possible until he sorted out his confused feelings. Since he’d just gotten the role of Romeo on the play, it wouldn’t be hard to use “play practice” as an excuse.

His mind made up, Roman shifted his focus to other matters, namely the unreasonable amount of homework that his math teacher had assigned. 

Finding that he couldn’t concentrate, Roman gave up on the homework, ultimately deciding he’d ask Logan for help or the answers, whichever one his logical friend was willing to give. He fiddled with his pencil, lying back on his bed and letting his thoughts wander, once again to Janus. 

Would his deceitful friend return to apologize, or would he act like nothing had happened? Likely the former, considering how highly Janus valued his friendship- or seemed to value it, anyway.

_ “Roman?”  _ Janus would say. He’d pause for a moment, preparing what he was going to say, but he’d end up asking the question,  _ “Do you hate me?”  _ Roman would wonder if the hesitance in his voice was another mask he was wearing, or genuine remorse? He’d settle on the conclusion that he shouldn’t be expected to know, not anymore. Roman would answer no, because he was a good friend. A good person. And everyone deserves a second chance, no matter what. Or do they? 

What if he went to school the next day, and Janus lied to his face? Roman would have to either become complicit in the deception, or out him to their entire friend group. He didn’t want to lie- and besides, if they found out by some other means, they’d know Roman had betrayed their trust. But was the other option any better? An image appeared in his mind of Janus’s easy smile turning to a horrified stare as his secret was revealed. Roman would be responsible for that, he couldn’t bear to walk around with that kind of guilt weighing him down. 

Not to mention what had happened between Virgil and Logan and Janus. None of the three had talked about it afterwards, which was probably why Janus managed to get away with it. If Roman brought up the subject with Logan and Virgil, one of them might happen to say something that didn’t line up with what the other had been told, and they’d figure it out without Roman having technically told them. But that was so close to something Janus would do, and even on the off chance it worked, Roman refused to so much as attempt something so close to what Janus would do. 

Maybe he was overthinking this. Could it truly be that bad? Roman didn’t know. Just as he was about to begin the whole spiral over again, his phone beeped.

He opened his messages, then dropped his phone on the floor, backing away as though it had burned him. He had a new message from Janus.

_ Evil Snake Boi: we need to talk. meet me at the coffee shop in 15 min? _

**Author's Note:**

> i'm so sorry roman-


End file.
